Sometime, you wonder if Nigeria is not already at war with itself over the likely outcome of the 2015 general elections. It is not just about the hate speeches and denigrating documentaries that pervade the campaign trail. What should disturb us is the fact that the personalities spewing bile from both sides of the divide come from the clan of the high and mighty on the political ladder. Yet, it was not up to two months that, amid fanfare and panache, President Goodluck Jonathan, General Muhammadu Buhari and 12 other presidential candidates signed a peace accord in Abuja. It is also important to note that the camaraderie that enveloped what has turned out to be a mere peripheral gesture of a commitment to an issue-based campaign was chaired by no less a personality than the former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Sir Emeka Anyaoku. Typical of the way we do things here, the ink had hardly dried on that piece of paper called the Abuja Peace Accord when the key actors picked up the gauntlet of bitterness from where it was hibernating, albeit temporarily.
Today, it is clear to everyone that that photo-op of a smiling Jonathan and Buhari in a warm embrace is nothing more than a fake pose. If anything, the postponement of the elections by six weeks seems to have given the ‘combatants’ ample time to oil their wheels of political chicanery and outright buffoonery. Literarily speaking, what appeared as grabs of peace has been torn to shreds. All hell is let loose and there seems to be no restriction on the deep-seated campaign of calumny, which citizens are bombarded with daily. At the beginning, concerned Nigerians expressed deep worry about the hate speeches. Now, the fad is direct personal insults and outright denigration of certain individuals in the political space. Truth is: Nigeria never had it this worse, not even at the early stages of its political maturity.
For the avoidance of doubt and for the benefit of those who may have forgotten the spirit and letters of the Abuja Peace Accord signed by those who have now done a 360 degrees turnaround to go for the jugular, below is what they commit themselves to in signing that document. They pledge to, among other things, “run issue-based campaigns at national, state and local government levels devoid of religious incitement and ethnic or tribal profiling; to refrain from making public statements, pronouncements, declarations or speeches that have the capacity to incite any form of violence before, during and after the election; to forcefully and publicly speak out against provocative utterances and oppose all acts of electoral violence, whether perpetrated by supporters and/or opponents; and
to commit themselves and their parties to the monitoring of the adherence to the accord, if necessary, by a national peace committee made up of respected statesmen and women, traditional and religious leaders.
Ordinarily, these things should not be too difficult to obey. It’s just that these are not ordinary times. In this winner takes all contest, the stakes are higher and respect for human dignity means little or nothing to the Rottweiler of power. In this fiery contest for the highest office in the land, a presidential admonition that his ambition should not attract the spill of anyone’s blood has fallen on the deaf ears of his henchmen—those who daily push for his re-election. Unfortunately, no matter how good his intentions, nothing suggests that the President has the capacity to call the violators of the Abuja Peace Accord in his camp to order. In the last three weeks, it must be said that his campaign office has championed hate-filled messages. And that is aside their ‘commitment’ to ensuring that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, is kicked out before the re-scheduled date for the elections. Not that it would have been acceptable if the opposition All Progressives Congress has been at the forefront of the renewed bitter, demeaning and disparaging campaign. However, it is scary that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party has failed woefully to obey the spirit and letters of a document willingly signed by a sitting President!
Some have argued that the twists, turns and the sheer baloney being unleashed on the voting public form sides of the political divide should not really bother us. They say that is what defines our politics and makes us different. No sir! I beg to disagree. Essentially, politics and its practice remain murky because those involved have refused to shed off the crude mentality which hallmarked the yore years of military rule. It is one thing to tar Buhari with the brush of a military dictator. It is another thing for those who lay claim to the finest democratic ethos to behave as touts of power. And so, it should matter to us that, less than two months into the signing of that peace accord, the focus has been on personalities rather than issues that should define our existence as a nation.
Like I hinted in my last piece, it should matter to every well-meaning Nigerians if the President is singing a tune which all the key members in his campaign team have refused to dance to. It wouldn’t have mattered if any of the party’s political thugs had been linked to the Buhari certificate or health issues during his recent visit to the United Kingdom. That could be conveniently waved off as the rant of an insignificant ant. But when the key sponsors of the damaging and disrespectful outburst are well-known apologists of the President, then there is need to wave the caution flag. It should matter to anyone that truly desires a thriving democratic system that the focus is now on sponsoring and instigating hate messages against certain elements in the opposition. It should worry us that, though the candidates signed an undertaking to ensure that “institutions of government including INEC and security agencies must act and be seen to act with impartiality”, the hawks in the PDP are doing everything within its power to arm-twist the electoral body into changing the rule of the game midway into a crucial election. It should matter that the personal abuse has become so scandalously trite that people now label others as thieves, drug addicts or suffering from life-threatening diseases without any shade of evidence other than beer-parlour rumour. It should matter!
If we say deadly and toxic political campaigns do not matter in times like this, are we also saying that it is right for the wife of the President to invoke a political fatwa on anyone who mentions the word ‘change’ at any gathering? Shouldn’t it bother us that such uncouth babbling that such persons should be stoned came from the mouth of someone who describes herself as the mother of the nation? Should we, in the spirit of political lousiness, look the other way when this same individual calls the main opposition candidate to her husband’s re-election bid brain dead? Should it bother us or do we also consign that to the exclusive garbage of political rascality? Is this what our politics has turned to?
It is not enough for any of the candidates to lay claim to signing a peace accord whose content has not only been callously raped but also been serially abused by their supporters. If that gesture is not backed by action, then this latest experiment may end up a nullity. If we are all agreed that political violence starts with the kind of language deployed by the key players in the run-off to the elections, then certain persons ought to be cautioned now before they throw the entire country into another round of bloodletting and needless killings. Those who crave peace should not abuse the privileges conferred on them by the office they hold. Clearly, sponsoring a smear campaign against the opposition in outright violation of the rules of the game could be deleterious to the overall craving for a non-violent poll. Peace, as the late Martin Luther King (Jnr.) noted, is not the absence of conflict but the presence of justice. So, how just is it for those in authority to continue stoking the embers of conflict in a tensed electoral race with a belief that such things should not really matter?
NATION
END
Be the first to comment